Normally these days I’m not a very political person, but I can’t help noticing the big sandwich board near the T stop I take every morning announcing that the Massachusetts primary will occur on February 5 this year. This is important to me, so I did a little bit of homework.

First off, my research tells me that Massachusetts is a modified primary state. This is different from being open, in which anyone can vote in the primary, and closed, in which you can only vote within your party affiliation if you registered one. If you’re registered as either a Democrat or a Republican, it’s basically a closed primary; you must vote within your party. But if you’re not affiliated you can still vote in either the Democratic or the Republican primary, but not both. A word of caution: I’ve read that choosing a primary to vote in may change your affiliation officially, but I’m not so sure that’s true.

Second, Massachusetts uses a proportional primary system. This one’s a tad more confusing to me, so I recommend you do your own research on what it means. I’m not going to even try to explain it because I simply will not do it justice.

Moving right along, if you’d like to participate in the primaries you should make sure you know where your polling place is. You can contact your town clerk or election commission to find out where it is. Click here to see an index of these folks, and here to see the Elections Division’s site.

Oh, and Wednesday January 16th is the last day to register to vote or change party affiliation before this year’s primary so get moving!

Amy points out that there is a lot of Boston related content on 60 Minutes tonight.

First, Boston mob triggerman John Martorano is on talking about the murders he committed and why. Then, Roger Clemens has his first interview since the Mitchell Report. Should be interesting to watch for anyone in Boston.

Actually, Congress. According to this article, Clemens and Andy Pettitte have been asked to testify before a congressional committee looking in to steroid use in baseball. The trainer, Brian McNamee, has also been asked to be there.

According to Boston Dirt Dogs, Clemens is now claiming he only has injected B-12. They point out that this was a joke back in the day and was even mentioned in Jose Cancesco’s “Juiced”.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

1. Shane Mauss:

2. No Filter Coffee Break, which has videos re: Sherman, Kaplan, Mauss, Chris Coxen, and Dan Boulger.

Previously: Rick Jenkins: Profile.

Last year, I got to see Scamper a number of times. Each time, I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Soon after, I heard that they were going on a hiatus.

Luckily, Boston’s music lovers get to see one last show. This show will be held at The Middle East Downstairs on Saturday, February 2, 2008.

Opening up for them will be Aloud, Harris, and Baker.

So, come out and enjoy the last show from a great Boston band!

(And if you can’t wait until February 2nd, Brendan Boogie Band featuring many of the members of Scamper will be playing Hennessey’s Upstairs on February 16th!)

Apparently not. We got 0.8 inches of fresh snow, but we needed 1.1 to beat the record. Looks like it wasn’t the snowiest December Boston’s ever seen after all. And you know, I, for one, am good with that.

Happy new year, folks!